Herb Brin's books of poetry

In addition to volume after volume of content for the Heritage newspapers, from community details to hard-hitting exposés, Herb Brin built a world-wide following for his brash, passionate style of poetry, expressed in six slim volumes, for sale (in ebook format) on this page. (Six poems from the collection are also available on this site.)

"Your Rubio poems reverberate in the soul. How a journalist, how an editor could also be a brilliant poet is a source of astonishment - and of gratitude." -- Elie Wiesel

"I am especially struck - among the many fine Herb Brin poems - by "In Lamentation," especially its powerful last quatrain with its alembic of time and eternity and I feel deeply honored that you send these poems, inscribed to me." -- Kevin Starr, California State Librarian

"Poems from the Rubio is an exquisite masterpiece. Rubio is vivid and powerful. It has a beauty of spirit that is deeply moving..." -- Steven B. Sample, President, Univ. of Southern California

"Wild Flowers, Justice, Justice and Conflicts infused the anemic state of modern American poetry with a new and passionate voice that celebrated the tragedies and triumphs of its people with burning indignation and ecstatic joy." -- Tom Tugend

Six of Herb Brin's poetry books follow:

Wild Flowers

Songs of love, songs of war, songs of faith, and songs of spring. Here is an unusual collection of poems reflecting the dreams and sense of wonder of a gifted, sensitive Jewish poet who is able to convey the tenderness of man's agonies and loves, his despairs and his hopes, his failings and dreams of a better world. Herb Brin's poems resonate with a deep sense of history, from the battlegrounds of the second World War to the era of Kennedy, from reflections on the horrors of the Holocaust to the miracles of faith, tinged with hope for a better world.

Justice, Justice

What is the measure of man? In this extraordinary collection of poems, Herb Brin rages against injustice and oppression with deeply felt passion. "Not to the weak of art does artistry belong," Brin declares in the opening line of this book. Herb brings to his poetry the same burning indignation against bigot and tyrant, the same compassion for the persecuted as he did in his widely-quoted newspaper columns. "Justice, Justice Shalt Thou Pursue..." were the words Herb Brin inscribed above the masthead of Heritage, the Southern California newspaper he published for several decades. "His verses are the cry, the laughter, the little sorrows and the eternal triumphs of a man -- and of a people," writes Tom Tugend.

Conflicts

In this moving collection of poems, Herb Brin lyricized man's basic humanity -- and his all-too frequent inhumanity. Above all, Brin shines light on injustice, as he turns his eye to conflicts that roil across the expanse of history. "Where there is conflict, pray for conscience," wrote Brin as, in powerful verse, he forces the reader to confront his or her own conscience. Herb Brin was a courageous journalist and publisher. But as a poet he also built a world-wide following for his brash style and unflinching passion.

Nobody Died Laughing

Light, joyful poetry you will not find here. These are poems infused with passion, with pain, with indignation, and especially with anger, as Herb Brin sweeps through millennia of Jewish history, directing his fury at the persecutions of the Crusades, the Inquisition, the travesties of war and especially the Holocaust. Brin also writes movingly of the California Gold Rush, of his travels through Mexico and Guatemala. He encompasses the passing of human life, conveying the innocence of childhood, the agonies of childbirth, the sorrows of aging. Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel wrote: "Your poems are timeless: poignant, eloquent, thoughtful. Your voice, Herb, penetrates the Jewish soul, for it brings such ancient fears and hopes to life."

Poems from the Rubio

A moving collection of poems reflecting Herb Brin's love of nature and his passion for the Jewish spirit. His verses are the cry, the laughter, the little sorrows and the eternal triumphs of a man -- and of a people. Praise for Poems from the Rubio:

"How a journalist, how an editor could also be a brilliant poet is a source of astonishment -- and of gratitude." -- Elie Wiesel (Nobel winner for Literature)

"Your Rubio poems reverberate in the soul. It is a joy to have your wonderful books grace by personal library..." -- Rabbi Alexander Schindler